Leaves
by Yoizen
Summary: Two leaves pushed by the wind of fate meet... and part. Cover by kuroko-kun (search for him on deviantArt).


_Leaves_

He knew about my demon. Knew about the Kyuubi. Avoided me, for some time. Like the others did. But he only came to know about the demon sealed inside me afterwards.

After he became my friend.

I was alone. Always alone. But I never let it show. It hurt, enormously. There was always a burning sensation in my heart, everywhere I went. Even the flat in which I lived was a victim of the countless assaults I received each day. The only time I was really safe was when I slept. At night, everyone sleeps. No one is awake to throw eggs at my windows or to spray paint rude graffiti on my walls.

The second safest time of the day was when I attended the Academy. Although it was also then that I received most of the harassing and insults, I didn't end up covered in bruises because of a violent villager or with a sprained ankle due to running away. At school, there were teachers who ensured that I wasn't to be physically injured. Despite Iruka-sensei always trying to cheer me up, a great deal of the students would find one way or another to make me feel left out.

I never wrapped my mind around why a big part of the bullying was done by children of my age. It was illogical to me. I thought they avoided me because I wasn't doing something right. I plastered a wide grin on my face in an attempt to let them know I didn't bite, that I wanted to be included in their fun and games. I kept the smile on for too long; it became a habit. It didn't help me get any friends though.

I took another step, a bit more radical. I hated those sideway glances and low whispering. I wanted to replace them with laughs. It didn't matter if they were laughing with me, or at me. During some pranks, I managed to share my humor with them. When I slipped-up, I laughed it off, and let them laugh at my mistakes. Sure, it didn't help me in actually becoming wholly integrated in the group, but it at least changed my status from "Unwanted" to "Notorious Prankster".

My relationship with my classmates was getting better. However, it didn't change anything when I walked down the streets and felt glares aimed at me from all four corners of the world. Why did the villagers hate me so much? I could never answer that question. Nor could I ever bring myself to hate them back, for no reason. So I created a cause for the reproaching looks. I started stealing from shops and spray-painting the Hokage monument. I balanced buckets filled with cold water on top of the doorways to bookstores. Sometimes during the chases, I would knock over stands of the shop owners who once refused to sell me food for some obscure reason. Unconsciously, I had slightly attenuated the unfounded spite that lived in the inhabitants of Konoha.

Unfortunately, the places to order sake in the Leaf were aplenty and meeting drunkards in dark alleys at night wasn't a rare occurrence.

It was a clear evening. No wisps of transparent gray filtering the moon's rays. I was walking home, after staying in the library until its tardy closing hours to avoid some irate butcher after a minor prank. The stars peppering the heavens copied the highlights of a multiple-faceted sapphire. It was the type of night I simple adored. I had all my attention on the twinkling lights above me that I stopped concentrating on walking. Which was an unwise thing to do. Because I walked straight into someone. And that someone just happened to be, you guessed it, wasted.

The impact jolted both of us. I recovered quickly, and apologized with my signature grin. He took a bit more time to realize what was going on. He then slurred some incomprehensible words.

"What?" I asked, unsure if the words were directed towards me.

The drunken man then became more aggressive. He swung a punch at me and thrashed me on the ground. Using the time I was slightly knocked out, he flung me around and shoved me into an alley. I took a glimpse behind me, searching for any escape routes. There were a few garbage bins to my right and cardboard boxes filled with waste to my left. Otherwise, high walls framed my position. It was a dead end.

The plastered villager tottered over, closing in on me. In his hands he held the broken neck of a rice wine bottle. Its jagged ends gleamed in the dark as he raised his fist.

"I'll be… doin' a favour… ta tha 'ole vil'age… if I… plant'this in yer body…"

It seemed I had no means of escape. My body refused motion, petrified with fear. Then, I heard someone whisper-shouting, "To your right!"

My eyes scoured for the origins of the speaker. It was a classmate of mine, frantically making a gesture of "come over here" to me from the top of one of the walls. "Jump on the garbage bins, quick!"

I glanced in the drunkard's direction just in time to see him bringing down his makeshift weapon. I swiftly dodge to my right and scramble onto the rubbish containers. The drunkard was confused, but not for long. He too climbed onto a bin and continued chasing me.

"Give me your hand!"

I did as I was told and felt suddenly lurched into the air. The landing was a bit rough, seeing as I was perched atop a brick wall; however, I had no right to complain, since the inebriated one could no longer attack me. We scurried far away from the alley by the roofs and didn't dare get down from the altitude until we got home. Well, that is, until I returned home and the guy who helped me out followed me there.

He revealed to me that he wanted to stop others from segregating me. He told me that he had caught a glimpse of sadness in my eyes, and felt bad for staying away from me. He confided that he didn't even know the reason why I was always getting singled out. He wanted change. And I accepted it gladly.

Eventually, I got to know him better. He too was a parentless child under the Hokage's care. Unlike me, he had to spend the nights at the orphanage. Immediately after our first encounter, we started knitting a tight bond between us. It was just amazing how our personalities worked well together, like two adjacent pieces of a jig-saw. We just clicked. The more time we spent together, the more I realized that we didn't consider each other as just friends. I had become his brother, and he, my partner in pranks. It was amazing how different we were, yet how much we had in common. He loved books; I hated studying. He sucked at general combat, I had pretty decent moves. Ramen was a deity we both worshipped. At one point, he even tried to rally us some other friends, but he gave up rapidly. I didn't care; I had already forgotten about my state of isolation, about the mass hatred being directed towards me.

I already had someone by my side, fighting with me.

Those were the good times.

I remember him saying that he would always help me achieve my dream. He declared he would support me until I earned the title I desired. He promised me that he would be there on the day of my coronation as the Fire Shadow.

It was a promise he almost fulfilled.

But now, he can no longer fulfill it.

_安らかに眠れ。_

_Yasurakani nemure。_


End file.
